Proper tools are required to study any ancient literature. The
Bible is an ancient book and appropriate tools are required to unlock its
message. There are three important tools commonly used by the Bible students.
These tools are Biblical exegesis, hermeneutics, and homiletics. These three
little words are actually jargons and so some explanation and illustration is
necessary.
Exegesis: It is an art of critical
analysis that is used to study the ancient text in its original language, with
the purpose of bringing out its original message. It involves text study,
sentence structure, and word study etc. A good grasp of the original languages
is essential to a good exegetical study because the Scripture was written in
different ancient languages. The Old Testament scripture was mainly written in
Hebrews with a touch of Aramaic, and a trace to Akkadians and Arabic root. Then
there is this Septuagint, which was a translation, and it was written in koine
Greek. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was popularly used by the Jews
and our Lord. Koine Greek was a common dialect or lingua franca of the Roman
Empire since 3rd century BC and that was slightly different from the
classical Greek. The New Testament was also written in Koine Greek with a bit
of Aramaic.
Naturally, one has to be well versed with
all these languages before he can actually place his hand on these two
testaments. Therefore, strictly speaking, Biblical exegesis is a special task
that requires professional knowledge. Looking around in the Christian community
in Malaysia, there are not many people who can carry out the job. Obviously,
there is none among the Reformed Baptist fraternal that can exegete the
Biblical texts in its original language. For the few of us who have gone
through training in the Bible colleges have merely picked up superficial
knowledge about exegesis. This is a fact and we have to humbly admit it. Can we
still carry out the task of biblical exegesis? Yes, we can, though not as a
specialist. We can still make exegetical observation on the English version of
the Bible with the help of good exegetical commentaries. We can come to a
closer grasp of the Bible by our critical observation.
Hermeneutics: It is an art of
interpreting the original message from the scripture and it is closely
associated with exegesis. Biblical interpretation and biblical exegesis are
Siamese twins. They would produce accurate search on the scripture when they
work hand in hand with one another. When the exegesis is inaccurate the
interpretation would be wrong. Yet many Bible students have gone straight into
interpreting the scripture without paying any attention to exegetical work.
Probably they presume that the two are the same, and if they have done the
interpretation they would have done the exegetical work. When exegetical work
is ignored, then they have to resort to big doctrinal argument to support their
interpretation.
Homiletics: Generally, this is a study
on public speaking. Its emphasis is usually on the beauty of the message and on
the persuasiveness in the delivery of the message. In the Christian practice,
this is an art of public preaching from the scripture. In this sense,
expository preaching is closer to the heart of the Christian homiletics. The
message comes straight from what the preacher has found from both the
exegetical work and the work of interpretation, and then special emphasis is
placed on the application of the message.
In the following is an outline of a sermon which I heard
some time ago. It is a good example how one can jump straight into
interpretation and homiletics without paying sufficient attention to exegesis. It
was one of the better messages I have heard, but I still feel that the
exegetical work was lacking and the message drifted away from the original
intention of the text.
The triumph of God's grace
- Introduction
- Focus on the family
- An abdication of
responsibility
- The desperation of a lady
- Vindication amidst immorality
- Reflection ad application
Now, I will show
you how I worked out an outline of a message, from Gen.38, by using the three
study tools, in the following;
Exegetical observation
This is an outline
of Genesis 38. This is a plain story without any interpretation. This is what exegesis
supposes to be. It is, of course, a bit tougher when come to controversial
text.
- Judah married a foreign
woman and bore three sons.
- He then got a wife for the
older son
- God killed him because of
his wickedness
- Then the second son was
ordered to marry the woman.
- God killed the second son too
for his refusal to produce any child with the woman.
- Then Tamar was told to wait
as widow.
- Judah broke his promise.
- Tamar used her deception to
get herself a son with Judah.
- Tamar saved herself death
penalty with Judah’s signet and cord, and staff.
- Tamar gave birth to two sons.
Interpretation
In interpretation
we should ask as many questions as possible. Why did Moses record the story? Was
it about man’s conduct? Was it all about immorality? Was it about the wrongness
in human cunningness? Was it about one man's responsibility to reproduce on
behalf of his own deceased brother? Or was it about God and His will? The
message which I heard seems to focus more on the issue of immorality and how
these moral problems being overcame by the Grace of God. But, from the plain
exegesis we do not find such passing of judgment on Judah and Tamar in the
text, except the two sons who were killed by God.
It is difficult and
inaccurate to judge the conduct in the Old Testament from our perspective. What
appears to be wrong to us may not be wrong in the Old Testament. The reason
given for the older son’s punishment was his wickedness. The text does not
provide further information about the nature of his wickedness. It is a puzzle
why did God punish him while they were many people might be worse than him. The
conduct of the second son, to us, is definitely not serious enough to be
punished. But it was serious enough to God. From the wider context in Genesis, it is quite
safe to say that the two sons’ wickedness has to do with their refusal to have
any child with Tamar. His conduct was not a moral issue but was an act of
disobedience. Judah’s casual relationship with the prostitute would be a horror
to us but it was alright to the society then. As a widow, Tamar’s pregnancy was
unacceptable to her society, but it might not be so today. So it is inaccurate
to treat the story like this as a teaching material on moral issue.
It is more appropriate to interpret the story as God’s progressive way
of revealing His will to the Jews. The larger context in Genesis and the
information provided by the gospels would help us to arrive at a clearer
interpretation. Jacob had 12 sons and on each he gave his blessing. Judah received
his share of the blessing as recorded in Genesis 49.8-12. Judah’s line had a
special role to play in God’s salvation plan. Tamar had a special place in
God’s plan. Tamar’s son Perez was an important link in the genealogy right up
to Jesus Christ. (Mt.1.3; Lk.3.33)!
Homily
Now we have a message from Genesis 38 and we have to present it in a
manner that would be relevant and be able to connect to the listeners. Perhaps
at this point we have to find out who is actually the leading character in the
story. It is very much like directing a film show and the director would
normally tell his history by casting the leading and supporting actors
or actresses in a distinctive manner. It would not work if all turn out to
be leading actors and actresses or all were in the supporting roles. So in our
presentation, we have to decide on the leading character and the supporting
ones. There must not be any confusion here. Do we have Judah or Tamar as the
leading person? I would choose Tamar and use her to tell the story, and the outline
will be as the following.
God's will
prevailed!
Introduction: “As the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts (Is.55.9). It was unthinkable and unbelievable to the Jews
that Tamar a foreign woman was chosen as the vessel to bear the seed of Judah.
- Tamar
the passive bride (1-6)
- Tamar
the “black widow” (7-11)
- Tamar
the cunning daughter in law (12-23)
- Tamar
the blessed mother (24-30)
Application: What shall we do when we
encounter such a wise and sovereign God who had not only a salvation plan, but
also had the power and wisdom to bring the plan to its consummation? Three
things we can do when we get to know our God from the story of Tamar;
·
We should humble ourselves before Him
and complain no more.
·
We should bow down and worship Him
·
We should learn to appreciate what
the Lord had taught His disciples about “let your will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.”
Rounding up:
What is the whole purpose of insisting on using the
appropriate tools in Bible study? It is all about the science of analytical study.
It is proven as the right method to study the Bible and to extract its intended
message from the Bible. At the end of the preaching, we have to ask ourselves
whether or not we have imparted the accurate grasp of the Scripture to the
congregation. We have to ask also whether or not we have delivered the correct
homily to the people. It is never an easy task to preach an accurate message
that is based on the Bible. Hard it might be, but our calling is not to mislead
others by our ill prepared homily.
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